Poly Honors President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Xu Kuangdi, president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and professor at Shanghai University was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree at a ceremony on the University’s MetroTech campus.

Renowned as an eminent metallurgist, Kuangdi has played a critical role in the development of a new process for stainless steel-macing in China, which earned him the Key Scientific and Technological Achievement Award. In remarks at the ceremony, President Jerry M. Hultin noted Dr. Kuangdi’s illustrious career as an academic and civil leader. “Your extraordinary career changed China,” he said, “and it changed the world.”

In his keynote address, the Development of Engineering and Technological Sciences in China, Kuangdi offered an overview of China’s phenomenal growth and engineering achievements. He went on to note that China is facing three challenges: “We need to improve the quality of labor,” he said, “innovate in technology and change the mode of growth and build an environmentally-friendly environment.”

At a luncheon following the ceremony, Kuangdi declared, “I am proud to be a member of the Poly community.”

HONORED: Xu Kuangdi (second from right), president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a world renowned expert on metallurgy, stands outside of Polytechnic University’s Dibner Library, with, from left to right, Chinese Consul General Liu Biwei (far left); Jerry Hultin, President of Polytechnic and David Chang, Chancellor of Polytechnic University. Xu Kuangdi, also a distinguished professor at Shanghai University and a former mayor of that city, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree on Oct. 4.

BUILDING GLOBAL RELATIONS: Dr. Xu Kuangdi (left), president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a world renowned metallurgist and a professor at Shanghai University, was honored with a Doctor of Engineering degree by Polytechnic University’s president Jerry Hultin (far right) and provost/chief academic officer Dr. Erich E. Kunhardt at a special Oct. 4 ceremony on the campus.

POLY PROUD: Polytechnic University’s provost and chief academic officer Dr. Erich E. Kunhardt is ecstatic as Dr. Xu Kuangdi (left), president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a renowned metallurgist, displays - for a photo op - the honorary Doctor of Engineering degree he had just received: “I am proud to be a member of the Poly community,” declared Dr. Xu Kuangdi at the Oct. 4 ceremony.

Dr. Kuangdi delivers keynote address.

PRIDE & JOY: Polytechnic University students of Asian descent paid their own special tribute to Dr. Xu Kuangdi (center, on left), the distinguished president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a world renowned metallurgist, and former Mayor of Shanghai, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering at a ceremony on the University’s MetroTech campus, Oct. 4.